Angle drive transmission



2 Sheets-Sheet l D. U. HUNTER ET AL ANGLE DRIVE TRANSMIS'SION Filed Nov. 12, .1941

Aug- 17, 1943- D. U. HUNTER ET A1. 2,326,860

ANGLE DRIVE TRANSMI S S ION Filed Nov. l2, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l N V E N TO R .DA v/o U flu/v rm, V//vc fN r7.'Mo oke JOSEPH Mopxovs KY.

ATTORNEY mission;

Patented Aug. 17, 1943 Y UNITED( STAT ES y' f i f 2,326,860. f

ANGLE DRIVE TRANSMISSION l I David JU. V'Huntei Cranford, Yandf Vincent T. I`

' Moore, Glen Rock', N.A .Land Joseph,lt/E'odlov'-V vsky, New York, N. Y;, assignors to Wright Aeron nautical'Corporation, 'a corporation of NewV ',1]'Aliiicatqnnqyemtr 12, '1941, sreifialrro. 41845;; in; tclainis. (Cru- 410) This-invention. relates to bevel gearing cncernd. particularly Withamulti shaft angle, drivegearset capablevgof.J transmitting a Y,large amount of power. ,K'Iheinvention is alsorconcerned withythedispposition of a power: plantinA an aircraft in suclrrna-nner as to utilize the angle drive gearset to `best advantage.

, An objectief. meinventmn .is to provide aid 1 aneledrivezassemblyn Which'tbe. powerv load.

is divided equally among a plurality of small, highspeedvbevel gearsets so arranged Withrespect to each other thatthey Will each assume anequal share` of the load. A ,further object is to provide aV bevel gearset utilizing multiple` gear contacts which will .be both `more compact and lighter in weight thanasingle large bevel gear unit capable of transmitting the saine:amountY of novel# Arfurther obje@ ofthe inventionls t provide annovelmdisposition oi an angle drive transmissionzin an aircraft, in conjunction with an engine Whose, power shaft is verticallydis? posed" within the aircraft, thepropeller shaft extending horizontally andbein'gY driven bythe Vertical povverfshaft through the angleldrivev transmission,Y further olreotY is tprov'idefan angle drive transmissiongadaptedf for'use'withv a cannon Orthelike WhoseY axis is coincident with'theixis'qf thairpla'rlpropeuer. ff t VllurtherY objects of the invention'willfebedome apparent in reading the annexed descriptionrin connection: with thedrawings', inwhichv: f

v Fig, 1 isva sectional plan of the-gangledrive' gearset; j M Y garer: Y Y

Y 'Fig'. Buis an enlarged fragmentary Vsection` -through.an .individualV shaftset of thetraijisi v Fig. 4 Ais a side elevation showing gearset/a'nd' 'power Plant dspesitini an'aicrafif Fig, 5 is a plan ofthe aircraft; and l Y t Fig 6 is a front-elevation ofthe' aircraft vr l'teierring nrst toAFigs. 1, ,2, and '3, We provide a transmission housingl comprising a substan`V tially vertical disc or ring rl l'tangent at oneledge ,|2, and integral with,` a horizontal ring or disc |13. The upper edgeof the Ydisc Il-and the-lefthand edge of thedisc I3 are joined'by anfel1ip- Vtical ring or plate l sloped atY an angle of substantially 45 With respectl tothe discs Il land I3; The elliptical member Min either plan or .end elevation would project ias an anruilus ofV `substantially the same diameter as veither the cliscllorlB.l Y Y u A Where reference is made to f vertcah lior i- `tra assembly, aS VShown Fig.` 2.v

description and is t 4 Y eralpositionof the members Yinspae.-

Aplurality of f layshafts l to 2Q, there being .provisionior eight such shafts in' theernbodimerit showinY are bornein`V the rdise l `the ring` i4. and their axes are normal tol thediscll,- At

the ringend of Yeach Ysuch shaft is a'b'ev'el pinion; 22,',Whi1e at the disc end efe'a'clisuchj 'shaftisa pinion 23 thefseveral` pinionsfZSbeing,driven in unison by a ring gear bornein an auxiliary 1 Y l V l "in iwilipe Y apparent tbat'the'fsevral shaftsjltoZjare 1 housing 25V securedff'to the disc l l.

ISVand carry pinionst'l'meshedfwitlr a ring/gear V SSbornein an*jextensienfhousing secured toYV -v Vthedisc 13; t'Will-be apparent that the'several shafts 22a-to e5 are (5f-different ingthfthej shortest shaft 35 bein/g at the left end of theY assembly4 and the longest-shaft'SZ beingat the right end l of rthe assembly. The shafts 2l`fand 32 comprise a1 driving pair.- Similarly, .drivingypairs are forrned by shafts Ylfand 19,301 ar1 ill|5-,:;29r andgl;

'eta-Thetotal length off, all shaft sets is the same although the individual lengths oirthe. Vshafts comprising the;sets, vary. l similar aggregate length ofithe shaft ,Seli-Splllf Due i t0 th@ torsional rigidity. ofall, of their;A is the ASeme 'so thatY the driving torquefrornthe ringvr gear A26 several .bevel gear connections; 2?;,2'1 wherebyY all geartooth contactsastsume'the'saine Io'ad'as all? other similar]A gear tooth jontaqts.. Y The.v phase relation loi tnefbevel gearsets will difer'ls'lightly .urider` driving, load, but this isuniniportant pendent 4of the others.- Y t Y i, Y

The assembly above described dividesthe drivingtorque among apluralityff smallih'i'eh speed. gear connectionsk s irie'the several la'yshafts Yl5 to 28, eteand 29 to 35, etc. are vin .stepped-up sincegeachsuch bevell gear connection isdnde Y n.

Yrelation relative Vto the driving and driven ring gearsk 29 and 38.` The aggregate 'bulk and weighty of the assembly shownV Will 'be substantially less than a single large bevel geaeonnection between the driving Vand driven shafts.'fFurtherrnore,.the

TfENT'-IQF'CEfff 'y bottom Vof :the

Referring briefly to Fig. 3, each bevel pinion.v

23 is integral with its horizontal shaft such as disposition of the shafts and gears is such that shaft sets, andmeans driven by the plurality at Y the other end of the shaft sets.

3. In an angle drive transmission, a plurality of circumferentially disposed parallel shafts each terminating at one end in a lplane normal to the shafts, said shafts terminating at their other ends. in a plane makingan angle ofv 45 with the 'shaft' axes whereby said shafts' vary in length from one side of the plurality to the other, a bevel gear on the sloped plane end of each shaft, and

' as'econd plurality of circumferentially disposed 20 and each bevel pinion 22 is secured to its shaft through a spline joint 46. Each vertical'shaft such as 32, is integral with its bevel pinion V2l, while each pinion 31 is secured to its shaft at a spline joint 38.

that the central portion of the engine lies within the, fuselage 50 and so that .the cylinders of the engine, in part, extend into the roots of the wings 5I. In conventional installationsfthe engine cylinder disc is normal to the air stream and the largearea of this disc causes large drag even though the engine be enclosed within carefully streamlinedlco'wling.V By' disposing lthe engine cylinder disc horizontally as shown, the only drag area from" the engine is obtained from the side of thecylinders, crankcase and accessory section, which Yarea is much less than thediso area of the cylinders. The angle drive transmission, indicated in its entirety as 5, vis secured to one endY of the engine so that the output shaft of thetransmission, 56, is horizontal and parallel to the flight path. A cannon'l is indicated as passingthrough the transmission, as previously described. The power plant disposition above described, gives vextremely low frontal area, as is shown in Fig. '6. i

.While wehave described our invention inde-1 .tail in its presentpreferred embodiment, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art, after understanding'our invention, that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the'spirit or Vscope thereof. We aim in the appended claims to cover all Such modifications andchanges. Y n `We claim as our invention:

1.` In a gear transmission-'input and output shafts disposed at a right angle to one another, a

first plurality of layshafts spaced around, parallel to and driven by the input shaft, the layshaft most remote from .the output shaft being short' and said layshafts as they near the output shaft being proportionally longer, bevel pinions on the ends of said layshafts, a second plurality of layshafts spaced around parallel to and in driving relation with the output shaft, and bevel gears on the layshafts of the second plurality respectively meshed with the layshafts of the rst plurality.

2. In anY angle drive transmission, a plurality Vof sets of shafts each set having a bevel gear driving connection therebetween and the several This arrangement permits of proper assembly of the severalgear components parallel shafts whose axes are normal to the shaft axes of thefirst plurality each shaft of the second plurality'lhaving a bevel gear at one end engaging one of itlie' rst mentioned bevel gears, said second plurality of shafts terminating at Y, their other ends in a common plane normal to sets having the same overall length, means for driving the plurality inV unison at one end of the their axesfthe'respective gear connected shaft sets the two pluralities all having the same length. Y Y

' '4.' In angle drive transmission, afplurality of circumferentiallydisposed'parallel shafts eachterminating at V'one' end in a plane normal to the shafts, saidshafts terminating' at their other ends in a plane making an angle of 45with the shaft axes whereby said shafts vary in length from one side of the plurality to the other, a bevel gear on theslopedplaner end of `Yeach shaft, a second pluralityof circumferentially disposed parallel shafts Whose axes are normal to the` shaft axes ofthe first plurality each shaft of the second plurality havingv a bevel gear at ,one end engaging one ofthe first mentioned'bevel'gearsvr said second plurality of shafts terminating at their otherends in a common plane normal to their axes, 'the respective gear connected shaft sets'in the'two pluralitiesV all -having the same length, a'joint drivingmeansforthe shafts of 1the first plurality, and ajjoint driven means driv ably connected to the, shafts of the seoond'plurality, respectively at the oppositefi'endsnfl said shafts frornsaid bevelgears.

5. In 'an angle drive transmission,^a frame comprising right angled discssubstantially tangent toone another and an elliptical ring tangent at its ends tothe discsand disposedat an angle of substantially 45 relative thereto,a plurality of bevel gear pairs'disposed around saidring, a plurality of shafts 'normal to on@l disc and borne therein each connected vto one bevel gear of the pairs, anda second plurality of shafts normal', to the other disc and borne therein, each connected to theother bevel gear ofthe pairs.

6. A Vpluralityof right-angled shafty sets, the axes of the shafts of each set intersecting and the shafts of eachsethaving a bevel geardriving connection, said driving connections being dis'- posed in a commonI plane angled with rspectto both shafts of eahjseucoplanarmeans to drive vsome of the shafts of the Ysets Yin nnison, and coplanar means driven'V by the othershafts ofthe sets, all shaft` sets having the same effective length whereby' the angular deflection of all shaft sets, under torsional load, is the vsame to distribute Ythe driving load equally among theseveral shaft sets.

7. In, an angle drive transmission, c oplanar input and output shafts disposed at-an angle to each other, va plurality of coplanar-'pairs oflayshafts, corresponding layshaftsfof each pairY being spaced around, parallel to and driven by the input shaft, the other layshafts of each pair being spaced around, parallel to and 'in driving relation with the output shaft, the axis of each Vpair of layshafts intersecting and each pair of layshafts havinga gear drive connection. the'effective length of each pair of layshafts being the same whereby the angular deflection of each pair of layshafts, under torsional load, is the same to distribute the driving load equally among the plurality of pairs of layshafts.

8. In an angle drive transmission, input and output shafts disposed at an angle to each other, a rst plurality of layshafts spaced around, Darallel to and driven by the input shaft, the layshaft most remote from the output shaft being short and said layshafts as they near Vthe output shaft being proportionally longer, bevel gears on the ends of said layshafts, a second pluralityof layshafts spaced around, parallel to and in driving 9. In an angle drive transmission, coplanar in? Y putand output shafts disposed at an angle to each other, a plurality of coplanar pairs of l'ayshafts, corresponding layshaits of each pair being spaced around, parallel to and driven by the input shaft,

nections being in a common plane so disposedV that the bisector of the angle between the inputr ,Y

and output shafts is perpendicular to said plane.

DAVID U. HUNTER. VINCENT T. MOORE. J OSEPBI MODROVSKY. 

